6,000 products reviewed by Compare Jewellery site

Company rates high street products giving consumers advice on designs.

A new site called Compare Jewellery has launched, designed to offer consumers independent and impartial advice on buying high street jewellery from retailers including Goldsmiths, Beaverbrooks, F Hinds, H Samuel and Ernest Jones.

More than 6,000 products have been tested and rated out of 10 by Compare Jewellery, with some items even squashed or broken to judge their value for money.

Compare Jewellery was launched by entrepreneur Ashley Faull, creator of interactive TV shopping channels Bid TV and Price-Drop TV. The free-to-use jewellery comparison service aims to provide advice and information on rings, necklaces and bracelets sold through high street retailers, to make shopping for jewellery online "easier and less risky".

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The site claims to be the world’s first totally impartial and independent jewellery comparison service. It has given each piece of jewellery a product review and a star rating out of 10.

Compare Jewellery head of product Ali O’Neill said of the site’s launch: “The jewellery industry is one of few to still be surrounded by secrecy and barriers and we want to change all of that. It’s about time some jewellery retailers stopped getting away with offering very poor value for money products, which we believe is nothing short of a scandal.

"Whilst our experts have been busily reviewing thousands of products, we’ve come across some items that had price tags far higher than their quality. For example, we’ve seen rings priced at almost £170 that can be bought elsewhere for less than £90, and other rings made with such minimal gold, that’s so thin you could squash it between your fingers."

The site also features a Jewellery Heaven and Jewellery Hell area, where it reviews products via video, explaining their pros and cons.

“We want our service to seem as though visitors to our site have a very knowledgeable expert sitting next to them, advising them to make sure they get great value for money, as there are also many very good value items to be purchased if you know where to search," added O’Neill. "We’re proud to be the very first, free to use and totally independent and impartial jewellery comparison website and we want to help people everywhere with their jewellery purchases.”

The management team at Compare Jewellery have about 70 years experience in the jewellery industry between them, including time spent in jewellery design and buying, manufacture and precious metal and gemstone procurement.

The jewellery available to compare through the new service is sold online via high street retailers such as Goldsmiths, Beaverbrooks, F Hinds, H Samuel and Ernest Jones. Users can also refine their results using more specific search terms such as particular price brackets or jewellery rated with a certain number of stars and above.